Wheel of Time - A Prequel
by 0tingocni
Summary: Hi all, This is my 1st work, and it's a pre-Age of Legends backstory to WoT that I've always wanted to do, and finally had the chance once aMoL came out. I'm not a writer by trade, but I am a fantasy and sci-fi fan, and all constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading!
1. Chapter 1

Wheel of Time - A Prequel

Azar Azi'Dahaka sighed, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his eyes. His team's experiment, years in the making, wasn't yielding the results as originally hoped.

He looked around the lab at his fellow researchers, and wondered if the same fatigued, and dark-shadowed eyes on their faces were reflected on his face as well. Azar ruefully rubbed the stubble and acknowledged that working 16-hour days would do that to anybody. At least his university had submitted a compelling enough proposal, and secured the necessary funding to construct the massive infrastructure required, comparable to the ancient great particle accelerators, and pay for the related salaries and other expenses.

Azar let a crooked grin slip out, and admitted to himself that the setbacks were secondary to his team's success in securing the funding to access the vacuum energy suggested by quantum foam. A new source of energy, potentially unlimited! One step forward, two steps back.

He closed his eyes, and let his mind drift backwards. One step forward, two steps back. Experiments. Back in the 22nd century, experiments were conducted on the quantum mind, based on ideas pioneered earlier by Roger Penrose. He rejected that consciousness was greater than that evidenced by the physical structures of the mind. Instead, he postulated that quantum relationships created by the spacetime curvature of the brain's building blocks gave rise to human consciousness and its relationship with the universe.

Those experiments, based on quantum entanglement within the brain, were eventually recognized as the source of human consciousness. Researchers extended this breakthrough and wondered on the quantum relationship between humans and the universe itself. Incredibly powerful quantum computers were required to even attempt to gather data, but after decades of gathering, and more decades of analysis, the researchers were floored. Quantum inseparability between the brain, and by extension humans, and the universe was proven.

The researchers used this relationship and tracked the consciousness of individuals through their lives. They discovered that after their deaths, the quantum waveforms of the individuals and their connections to the universe remained. Furthermore, after a period of time, the same base consciousness returned to babies shortly before birth, although there was no recall of being in their previous bodies. The implications were staggering; reincarnation was no longer a thing of religion or faith, but was a reality. Entire nations roared with fury at the findings, and attempted to silence the truth using nuclear and even greater weapons, destroying and reshaping the faces of entire continents. The human world very nearly perished.

Humanity did eventually recover, although it took hundreds of years. Civilization was radically reshaped, although there were similarities to the old world. What was once Persia became again a centre of learning, particularly in the fields of math and science. Historians attributed this to the revival of Zoroastrianism in the region, which was once the dominant religion of Persia. Zoroastrians believed in the concept of reincarnation, and were thus one of the cultures able to adapt to the new reality. This, along with their research-driven personalities no longer stifled by religious dogma, were perfectly suited as scientific leaders in the new world.

One of the curious Zoroastrian beliefs was that they did not perceive time as a strictly linear process. Instead, they viewed time as a series of cycles moving forward, which fit reality...

Azar felt a slap on the side of his head, jarring him back to the waking world. His eyes attempted to focus on a blurry shape in front of him, which eventually coalesced into the smiling face of Mah'Dokht, one of his fellow researchers, and inwarding groaning, his girlfriend. Mah'dokht was beautiful, incredibly intelligent, and ambitious. She sometimes budgered Azar good-naturedly on findings that he struggled to make, but were obvious to herself.

"Sleeping on the job again," she teased. Azar attempted to respond by taking a swipe at her but she nimbly danced out of the way.

"Hey, I'm trying to figure out why we're not obtaining the results predicted by our model. All of our data indicated that we should be able to access this vacuum energy, or whatever it is." He waved his hand in the air in front of him. "All of it residing in this...should be able to be tapped by our machinery! We've spent years, and still nothing! Have we been going about this all wrong? Is all of this equipment useless?"

Mah'Dokht's face took on a thoughtful look, and she said, "You know, I haven't said anything publicly to the rest of the team, but I've been having similar musings. What if we _are_ going about this all wrong?"

He groaned, and said, "I was just kidding! We've spent so long on this. I don't want to be ridiculed by the other research teams!"

Mah'Dokht stepped closer to him, dropped her voice, and whispered excitedly, "I recalled some old research, so I contacted one of the teams in the biology department to provide me with articles from the old world. Do you remember the old photosynthesis controversies back in the 21st century?"

Azar looked warily at her. "Perhaps...my knowledge on ancient biology is a little rusty. What about it?"

She assumed a slightly condescending tone, and said, "Well, back then, biologists believed that photosythesis was more than a straightforward biological process, due to the fact that the efficiency of the process itself was unable to be duplicated mechanically. That some quantum process was required to achieve that level of efficiency. Unfortunately, the research was never carried through, probably due to a lack of technology back then."

"I still don't understand what you're getting at," Azar said, with both palms up in the air. "So plants are able to convert sunlight into sustenance more efficiently than we're able to currently to achieve. What does that have to do with what we're doing here?"

"Don't you see?" Mah'Dokht asked, "We might be going about this all wrong. It's not all of this machinery that we should be using to access this energy, but instead biological entities!"

Azar said slowly, "So, you're saying that _we_, not our machines, are the ideal way to harness this energy? That's insane, the levels we've been predicting would vaporize us instantly."

Her face took on a slightly hurtful look. "It hasn't been done before, you can't automatically assume that. We can shoot guns, utilize our hovercars, use flamethrowers! All of the energy captured within those devices would also destroy us, but we've harnessed it!"

"But that's different. It-"

"Just listen, I've thought about an...unauthorized side parallel experiment we can conduct. The biology department did some work several years ago and created some rudimentary biological computers. What if we could create some RNA-based nanostructures and place them within the human body, to utilize the quantum structures of the brain to access and regulate that energy?"

"You're crazy. We're barely getting enough sleep as is, and you want to create a _parallel_ experiment? Are you trying to kill me through sleep deprivation?"

Mah'Dokht pouted and leaned in closer, her face almost touching Azar's. "Please? I'll help you if you can't figure out your research."

Azar groaned and said, "Whatever, just let me sleep, err...ponder, and I'll try to help you when I can find some time."

Mah'Dokht clapped her hands and exclaimed, "It's a deal!", and danced out of the lab, their other fellow researchers with bemused looks on their tired faces.

Azar dropped his face into his hands, and thought what did he get himself into. Humans bio-engineered to access vacuum energy in the quantum foam? Incredible, he thought to himself. I can't believe I agreed to that. I must be more tired that I thought. The last thing he wanted was to be ridiculed and laughed out of his position at the Collam Daan University...


	2. Chapter 2

**Wheel of Time - A Prequel**

Chapter 2

Maxwell Schlange threw his cup across the room in anger. The rumors that funding was being diverted from the vacuum energy project were confirmed with a memo from college administration. His colleagues, already agitated at the news, jumped at the sound as the cup hit a wall, splashing liquid everywhere. He stalked past rows of desks lined with computers, cables, and other lab equipment, walked down a hallway, and made his way to the office of Abir Ramman, the head of High Energy Physics. Seeing that he was present, Maxwell barged past the reception area and Abir's assistant, brushing aside her protests, and entered Abir's office without knocking and began yelling. "I told you this would happen!"

Abir looked up from behind his desk and held his hands up. "Keep calm Max," trying to soothe him, "this was the best path we could have taken under the circumstances."

"Really? Wasting time continuing work on these...these theoretical activities? We had a workable plan, but instead of seizing that opportunity and taking the project to the next step, you've wasting everybody's time on endless simulations!"

Abir narrowed his eyes at the outburst. "Next step? There are still many unknowns, and we're conducting unprecedented research. I'd rather spend more time upfront trying to anticipate what might happen if we move forward, instead of barreling ahead and taking your suggestion to, what, use people as experimental subjects?"

Max move his hands up in a defensive posture. "I never said i wanted to use humans as test subjects. I suggested first using lower lifeforms to test upon, similar to what ancient scientists did, and then human testing, once we had successful results."

"There's no way I can condone doing that", Abir said, shaking his head. "Never mind that the global ecosystem is still in a delicate state, you haven't even determined which species would be viable. Are you willing to experiment on hundreds of animals from hundreds of different species? You know that the general public, and even many of the campus researchers, are extremely averse to anything that could threaten the biomes and cause another collapse."

The Great War had decimated life all over the planet. Scientists had been able to restore enough species to prevent a total ecological collapse and continued to toil, but the situation still remained precarious. All around the glove, everybody understood the dangers, and as such, sustainability was ingrained into the public consciousness. Outside the Collam Daan and a few other select areas in V'Saine, people had chosen lifestyles that minimized pollution, foresaking the use of ancient internal combustion engines and other similar devices, in an effort at self-preservation. All industrial areas, including the factories that manufactured their computers and other equipment, were kept to a minimum and isolated from habitable areas.

"Yes," Shlange said emphatically. "I'd willingly do those experiments. They'd allow us to generate actual results, which we could use to get back our funding and continue our research. More importantly, can you imagine the benefit to humanity, having a potentially unlimited and non-polluting source of energy? We could have the resources to repopulate and rebuild the entire world! It's time we moved forward and stopped with these simulations."

"I'm sorry, but I can't sanction these experiments. I sincerely hope that you're not serious about doing them. If you are, the Collam Daan would prefer to do without this sort of negative publicity."

Maxwell narrowed his eyes, and abruptly left the office.

Abir shook his head, and mentally braced himself to face the wrath of what was sure to be many more of his staff.

* * *

The swallow seemed to disappear and reappear as it gracefully flew through the lengthening shadows cast by the trees in the early evening hours, hunting insects. It never failed to marvel Akiko at how effortlessly the bird made flying look, and always helped to soothe her during stressful times. Her ragged breathing started to slow down and become more steady as her eyes tracked the bird's flight patterns, and her body became more relaxed as she sat cross-legged on the polished stone bench, her open arms resting lightly on her thighs in a meditative pose.

The central garden at Collum Daan was her favorite place on campus to visit and meditate when she either needed a brief respite from work or wanted the opportunity to enjoy nature, as rare and precious as it was. The garden was a micro-biome, one of the experiments to nurture their work, before reintroducing revived and engineered species to the wild. The blue and silver domes of the university in the distance reflected the light of the setting sun.

The ease at which the swallow moved through the air momentarily made Akiko want to transfer to the Applied Physics department. Hardly, she thought sardonically, shifting slightly in her seated position. It was true, from what she and other people at the university had heard, that they had recently made breakthroughs in antigravity, discoveries that were once thought lost, more than a millennia ago. Proofs-of-concept for flying vehicles that could defy gravity move like the swallow, and even more exotically, buildings with the ability to float. That said, the Nanotechnology department was her first love, being able to create and manipulate structures at a level nearly minute enough to affect the building blocks of matter.

Akiko al'Sabbar had spent the last five years working on a project, a partnership originally proposed by High Energy Physics and built on information theorized by the Biology Department, which was nanotech with the ability to affect energy at the quantum level. All of that hard work was now in danger of being in vain, with the massive cutback in funding and computing resources. Her almond eyes, which were a contrast to her olive skin - one of the identifiers of her ancient Japanese ancestry, narrowed and her brow furrowed as she nearly lost her meditative state. She closed her eyes as she contemplated the cause of her stress, in an attempt to confront and transcend it. Her streith shirt, partially obscured by her lab coat, reflected her mood, shifting continuously from white to a dusky yellow and back again.

The premise was initially exciting, but the excitement had eventually faded due to a lack of progress. Physics was able to use computing resources on both the Collum Daan campus as well as facilities in other cities, creating a simulation of the interactions between the nanobots of Akiko's department and a human brain, which consisted of nearly 10^11 neurons, synapses and other neural structures. The amount of processing power required dwarfed any other project ever undertaken.

It was thought that what was known of quantum interactions was sufficient to provide an accurate model for the simulation. However, there were two problems with this approach. First, the knowledge High Energy Physics had provided to fill in the gaps, was purely theoretical and guesswork. Secondly, and more importantly, the neural structures being simulated were just that, computer models with no quantum link to the universe. As such, the simulations had no causal relationship with, and were unable to influence the universe. As a result, university administration had recently scaled back computing resources and funding in favor of other projects with more promise. Her department had constructed several nanobot variations with could theoretically link with and utilize the quantum wave patterns, but without the exact knowledge on how to link them to the brain, they were unable to exactly tailor them to what was required.

Akiko sighed, took another deep breath of the cool evening air, and entered more deeply into meditation, focusing on kū, awaiting some sort of epiphany on saving her department's research. Part of her Japanese heritage passed down to her from her grandparents, meditation on kū, or the Void, gave her the discipline to transcend immediate problems and focus on potential solutions. Her awareness expanded as her distractions began to fade away. For some reason, she began thinking of telomeres...

"So you actually want to do this?" A group of researchers from Biology, High Energy Physics, and Nanotechnology sat in a rough semicircle around Maxwell Shlange in a lecture hall. He had asked for this late night meeting with some coworkers he felt shared his vision based on conversations with them, and more importantly, they were colleagues he felt he could trust. Thesar Daesad, a grey-haired man clad in a lab coat from Biology, called out his question.

"Yes," Maxwell replied, "you all know that we've already lost a significant portion of our resources, and if Abir continues on this ridiculous thought experiment, we will lose all of our funding. This may be our one and only chance to make any sort of actual progress."

"Have you thought about the logistics of what you're proposing?" Thesar Daesad asked. "Not only do we need to obtain an unknown number of test animals from any unknown number of species, but we also need some way to bring, experiment on, and observe all of these animals on campus without anybody noticing."

"Yes, yes, I know. I am also very much aware of the... distaste... of some the academic community on any sort of animal testing."

"Hardly from just the academic community", noted Thesar with a crooked smile, "more like the public in general."

"I realize that there is a danger to what I'm proposing, and that there will be a backlash no matter how we proceed. That said, I believe I have a strategy that will lessen opposition. All primates should be restricted from testing even though that are the most similar to humans, since they are near extinction. We would instead concentrate on species with large populations that could be considered revolting, threatening, or pests."

"What might those be?"

"I have a few options. We could look at the Squamata and Rodentia orders, and the Canidae family."

"Sorry, what was that?" Nabil Labur, a nanotech scientist, raised his arm.

Thesar turned to Nabil. "Reptiles, rats, and jackals, foxes, and other similar animals."

"Yes," Maxwell nodded. "Do you all understand now? These animals in that past have been thought of as pests or otherwise animals not looked upon favorably, and those feelings continue even to this day. I believe that we could commence our work with them. Ideally we'll be able to collect valuable data, and not have to resort to testing on animals that would cause a major backlash."

"I see," Nabil spoke hesitantly. "That could possible lessen any protests. However, where would you conduct the research though? You even mentioned that Abir is completely against this. If he hears about this, our research will be banned even before we start!"

"I realize that, and I agree it will not be viable to do our work on campus. I have a location in mind. It's on the outskirts of V'Saine, right where one of the industrial areas meets a dense and infrequently used forest. I know several workers there that will let us use an unoccupied building for our research, and we can obtain test subjects discreetly from the forest. Look, I know there will be opposition, but I called you all here tonight because I know you also want this research to move forward, and I think this is our best hope."

Several of the researchers began to nod their nods in agreement.

"Don't give me an answer right away, but think about it and let me know if you still want to be a part of this. I need everybody fully committed to this, will the full realization that we may be shunned by our actions. Thank you."

Schlange remained standing until all the people had left the room, feeling anticipation enter his body. He would go forward with this research, regardless of what Abir thought!


	3. Chapter 3

**Wheel of Time - A Prequel**

Chapter 3

Nabil, clad in black with a sack slung over his shoulder, made his way across the industrial complex in near pitch blackness. The complex was completely shut down at night to minimize pollution. He took a circuitous route, avoiding lit areas from overhead spotlights and ended up in an isolated area, in front of a nondescript two-story structure that was approximately 30 meters wide and 100 meters long. The only opening to the structure consisted of a door at the base of one of the short walls, which was secured with multiple locks. Retrieving a set of keys from his pocket, the researcher unlocked the door, and stepped into what appeared to be an unused and unlit storage facility. He walked in the darkness past dusty machinery and tools to another locked door at the far end of the structure, and passing through, made his way up a stairwell that led to the upper level of the structure. Nabil unlocked the door at the top of the stairwell, opened it, and blinked at the sudden light that temporarily blinded him.

The brightly lit room occupied the entire second floor of the structure, with researchers clustered among the rows of equipment and computers that were arranged tightly together. Nabil walked over to a row of cages, produced a small animal from his sack, and gently placed it into one of the empty cages, locking the door.

"What were you able to capture tonight?" asked Kali, one of Nabil's colleagues. Her long raven hair draped over the cage as she peered into it.

"It appears to be some type of fox, although I'm not sure exactly which species."

"That's all right," Kali began writing on a slate attached to the top of the cage. "We'll identify which type it is later."

"So have we been making any progress?" Nabil inquired as his eyes scanned the banks of equipment.

Kali's slim statuesque form turned as she gestured, "Nothing so far. We've captured approximately 100 animals from nearly 20 different species of _Canidae_ and _Squamata_, along with some left over _Rodentia _subjects_,_ but none of the experiments have yielded any results so far."

Nabil considered this. Almost six months ago, they had moved into this building and set up their makeshift laboratory using equipment scavenged from the Collam Daan university and other locations. He had taken a canister of template nanobots from the Nanotechnology department. The brainchildren of Akiko al'Sabbar, one of the department's researchers, these nanobots were engineered RNA-based machines that had been outfitted with basic computing, transmitting, and manipulating instruments. Nabil had collaborated with several colleagues, including two from his department, on adapting and replicating the templates to integrate with the physical structures and quantum wave functions of their test subjects' brains.

_Rodentia_ had been their initial, and obvious, choice on which to experiment. These animals, even with a frail ecosystem, were still considered pests. A large and dense forest bordered on the industrial complex, and it contained a large number of _Rodentia_ species. The templates were modified and had incredibly small and precise instruments added to them, built atom by atom. They were then replicated and injected, trillions at a time, into the braincases of the test subjects. They were designed to spread throughout the brain and communicate with each other, utilizing clustered computing in an attempt to tap into the brain's quantum wave functions and manipulate the universe.

The animals were connected to lab equipment that measured the wave functions' connections to the universe. Since all of the _Rodentia_ subjects that were tested lacked adequate sentience to deliberately influence their environment, the nanobots were used to overcome this limitation. They were programmed to primarily accumulate in the basal ganglia, chosen for its influence in cognitive and motor functions, as well as being present in all vertebrate brains. Once there, they would manually stimulate the neural clusters and carry out several experiments in order to access space time turbulence. This turbulence, or quantum foam, was believed to be the underlying fabric of the universe. As initially postulated by the High Energy Physics department, if externally-linked quantum wave functions could be manipulated, the fabric of the universe could potentially be controlled, and the theorized vacuum energy could be harnessed.

Unfortunately, none of the experiments yielded any access to the quantum foam, much less changes to it. After a series of meetings and heated discussions, it was decided to commence experimenting on other animal orders, including _Squamata_ and _Carnivora_. These orders were chosen based on the numbers of animals and diversification of species that were available within the forest, as well as based on the risk of a potential backlash if they were ever caught. Nabil scanned the banks of cages and the more than hundred animals locked up, awaiting experimentation. There were about thirty more animals that were currently being tested on, hooked up to various pieces of equipment and monitored.

He sighed and made his way to retrieve his lab clothing from the changing rooms.

* * *

Akiko checked the information on the containment fields that held the nanobots isolated and suspended within five vessels. The walls of the titanium vessels were sandwiched with thing layers of lead to provide protection to the nanobots from radiation. In spite of the interior walls of the vessels being highly polished, the nanobots were so small that if dropped, they would become trapped and lost in the metal's grooves at a microscopic level. As such, and the suspension fields were also the most effective way to prevent the nanobots from being lost. As usual, the sensors monitoring the fields reported zero fluctuations due to the multiple redundant systems. She turned away from the vessels and looked at her computer.

Akiko and her team had diverted most of their time and resources over the last year away from the vacuum energy project to another project. She had inspiration for a departmental project based on an epiphany during a meditation session almost a year ago, and had pulled several researchers to assist her. Effort on the vacuum energy project had significantly decreased, and several of the researchers that had worked on the project had either transferred out of the department or only visited the Nanotechnology department infrequently. Nabil was one of these people. He had reduced his time at the laboratory more than a year ago, although he was in the department's laboratory today. He saw Akiko from the other side of the lab, approached and smiled at her. "_Salamat_ Akiko."

"_Salamat_ Nabil. How have you been?"

"Doing well, keeping busy, and yourself?"

"I'm doing well, and the rest of the department is also doing well. We really miss you around here. You only come in once a month. What have you been doing with the rest of your time?"

Nabil waved his hand vaguely. "Oh, I've accepted a part-time research position at another university."

"Oh really? In V'saine or another city?"

"In V'saine," Nabil looked at Akiko. "You know I'd prefer working here full-time, but with the cut in funding..."

"I know Nabil," Akiko put her hand on her colleague's shoulder. "I'm sorry that the vacuum energy project fell through, but we're working on another project in conjunction with the Biology department, and I'd love to have you on it."

"Really? What is it?"

Akiko gestured towards her screen. "It's somewhat tangentially related to the nanobot templates used for the vacuum energy project. I was thinking about other potential applications using what we already have. What do you know of telomeres?"

"Not too much, what are they?"

"They're nucleotide structures attached to the end of chromosomes. To simplify the explanation, every time our cells divide, damage occurs at the ends of the chromosomes. Ancient sea-faring ships used sacrificial anodes to prevent seawater corroding their metal hulls. A mass of metal was installed on the exterior on the ship in such a way that the seawater would corrode it, instead of the hull. Similarly, damage occurs to telomeres instead of DNA each time chromosomes replicate, thereby keeping the chromosomes intact. That said, our telomeres are a certain length upon birth, and each cell division shortens them. Eventually, the telomeres become so short that damage to DNA occurs during replication, which leads to age-related conditions and organ failures.

"The Biology department originally tried to address this through in vitro gene therapy, but success in vitro had little correlation as organisms aged. Telomere manipulation can be potentially effective on combating aging through the use of telomerase to replenish telomeres, which was part of the problem. Do you know what else exhibits that property? Cancer cells. They _constantly_ have their telomeres rebuilt, which makes them effectively immortal. The Biology department wasn't able to manage that balance, and essentially bred those animals composed of cells that were able to rebuild their telomeres. However, they ended up differentiating into cancer cells. For some reason, this either didn't manifest in, or appeared very late in the life cycles of lower lifeforms, but occurred rapidly in higher lifeforms, especially primates."

Akiko looked crestfallen for a moment. "This is one of the primarily why Abir refused to allow early animal testing on the vacuum energy project - dozens of animals that appeared to be healthy upon birth died within four years, including several primates. The death of those primates wiped out nearly ten percent of the global population. The backlash was so great that many people called for the closing of the university."

"I never knew that," Nabil's eyes grew wide at this revelation. "I suppose I can now appreciate why he was so adamant that we exhaustively did our simulations."

"That's correct. I believe this was before your time. You can imagine that, combined with the fragile state of the global ecosystem, and how it would affect people. I don't believe Maxwell Schlange was working here either when that incident occurred. In any event, gene therapy proved to be unpredictable after birth, and it was impossible to repair all the damage to all the billions of cells in the test animals once the cells mutated. It was just a matter of time until they all died. Biology was never able to identify the underlying mechanism for that differentiation, and as a result their research was cut.

"I must admit though, that Abil may have either underestimated the time required for the vacuum energy projection, or overestimated the patience of Collum Daan's administration.

"In any event, we needed a project that could give us a relatively quick win, and I thought that if we were successful, we could make a case to reinstate full funding. I said quick win because unlike with vacuum energy, the goal of using telomere lengthening to combat age was achieved. It was just the regulation and damage repair mechanisms that were flawed."

"Wait," Nabil's eyes opened even wider than before and point a finger at Akiko, "Are you saying that you're able to use nanotechnology to combat aging through telomere regeneration?"

Akiko gave a coy smile. "We're still working on it. That said, we've been successful in our simulations having the nanobots complete several tasks including the identification of chromosomes that require telomere lengthening, replicating telomerase using minuscule amounts of existing materials within an organism, and storing, manipulating and using that telomerase to replenish telomeres. The final outstanding task is for the nanobots to identify and eliminate cells that have the potential to become cancerous."

Nabil gave a broad smile. "That's incredible, I'd love to see more of your research. Do you have some free time now?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Wheel of Time - A Prequel**

Chapter 4

Maxwell Schlange, along with two of his assistants, peered intently at a computer screen filled with information. The computer was linked to a cluster of instruments arranged tightly at the head of a gurney. A sedated animal was strapped down while the instruments took measurements. The researcher shifted his gaze from the display to the animal, _Canis lupus dingo_, a type of wild dog. It remained conscious, but was acquiescent enough that it did not attempt to strain against its restraints. Maxwell reviewed the accumulated data on the subject and his eyes narrowed to slits. Over a month's worth of experimentation had failed to divulge any meaningful results, with no recorded connections or interactions from the animal's neural wave functions on space time turbulence. Telemetry confirmed that the nanobots had successfully deployed, self-organized into a cluster, and completed modifications to the target's basal ganglia. It appeared that the altered wave functions appeared to briefly touch the quantum foam, but spontaneously dissipated.

Maxwell sighed and entered some notations in the lab's database. None of the twenty-two _Canis lupus dingo_ specimens had yielded any results. He turned to his assistants. "Have this machinery powered down and return the test subject back into the forest." The two nodded in assent.

* * *

- BEGIN TRANSMISSION -

DATE: 2182-09-24

Section 01 of 02 Moscow 00003056

SUB: FAILED TALKS WITH RUSSIA, AFRICA, AND IRAN

1. (S) Summary: The meetings with diplomatic staff from Russia, African countries, and Iran have proven ineffective and have broken off. Occupation of locations in England and Western United States by these countries continues with escalating violence by state agents in attempt to expand occupied areas. All military attempts at recapturing these areas using operations with minimal collateral damage have failed. In addition, air strikes using Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bombs (MOABs) have also failed. It is suspected that state agents are located either deep underground or in hardened structures. Casualties from collateral damage are estimated in excess of 160,000.

Attempts at Tomahawk strikes from US and NATO groups at key state military targets were intercepted and have been ineffective.

Recommend: 1) continued talks with diplomatic staff from Russia, African countries, and Iran, and 2) consider use of Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV) delivery system for nuclear payloads at Russian, African, and Iranian strategic assets, and deployment of Tactical Tectonic Warhead (TTW) system to Eurasian and African tectonic plate locations as laid out in Section 03 of POSEIDON.

- END TRANSMISSION -

* * *

- BEGIN TRANSMISSION -

DATE: 2182-10-13

Section 01 of 05 Baffin 00010812

SUB: LOSS OF NORTHWEST PASSAGE

1. (S) Summary: Communications have been lost with all United States monitoring equipment along the Northwest Passage. At 03:30 GMT on 2182-10-12, transmissions ceased from Central Stations 03, 04, 08, 15 and 26. Initial analysis by Department of Defense (DoD) based on information from orbital-based assets and hardened ground-based assets indicates cause due to probable use of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices. Visual analysis by DoD from ground-based assets seems to indicate use of missile delivery systems fired from submarines or other underwater vehicles. Structure of missiles is consistent with those used by Russian state military. Unable to continue visual monitoring from hardened ground-based assets after 03:50 GMT on 2182-10-12 due to simultaneous assault from ground-based forces. Identification of forces unknown at this time.

Similar losses of ground-based monitoring assets of NATO, Canada, and Norway in Northwest Passage have also occurred. Analysis by DoD on total loss of ability to monitor and maintain control of Northwest Passage indicates that Russia state actors will attempt to use Northwest Passage to escalate deployment of weapons and supplies through Northwest Passage using underwater vehicles to reinforce strategic foreign-held locations along Unites States eastern seaboard and European locations.

Recommend: 1) emergency convening of Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) to determine firing solutions using Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV) delivery systems for nuclear payloads at Russian, African, and Iranian strategic assets, and final refinement of settings for Tectonic Tactical Warhead (TTW) system along Eurasian and African tectonic plates based on latest POSEIDON simulations, and 2) final attempt at re-establishment of communication with Russian diplomatic staff.

- END TRANSMISSION -

* * *

The head of the _Canis lupus lupus _specimen twitched. Its eyes continuously shifted as it tried to focus on the machinery and multiple people looking at it.

Despite the array of computers, video cameras, and other devices recording every instant of the experiment, Kali was attempting to track every moment herself. Thesar Daesad burst into the room and ran up to her, out of breath, and managed to gasp, "I just heard about your breakthrough! Have you managed to initiate an quantum foam event with this wolf?"

Kali waved back Thesar, without shifting her attention away from the scene in front. "Yes and no. Well, to be more specific, we may have. However, we may have discovered something else with equal, if not more, significance."

She pointed at one of the screens. It displayed a graphical representation of the quantum wave functions that connected the brain of the _Canis lupus lupus_ specimen to space time turbulence. Thesar pushed aside two other researchers to obtain a closer view, and they looked at him with some reproach.

"As you can see," Kali said, "the wave function interactions are being monitored in near real-time. The representations indicate an interaction between the _Canis lupus lupus_, or Point "A", and Point "B", which we believe to be space time turbulence. Of course, Points "A" and "B" are not actual physical locations, but represent connections in space time. What's important are the echoes and shifts in these wave functions. We've observed functions that seem to spontaneously materialize and suddenly dissipate, parallel to the base functions. We've also observed these base functions appear to suddenly shift, and then shift back to their original locations."

The raven-haired researcher held up her hand before Thesar could speak. "Before you ask, these are not errors in either the equipment or noise. We've spent several weeks analyzing those possibilities and have eliminated them."

For the first time since he entered, Kali looked directly at him. "We believe that this activity indicates two things: evidence of alternate realities, and this _Canis lupus lupus_ specimen, and other similar subjects, attempting to access these realities.

"The existence of other dimensions or realities have been postulated in several theoretical frameworks such as compact dimensions in string theory, dimensions that exist parallel to our own universe, and the many worlds interpretation in quantum mechanics based on wave function collapse creating new universes. However, this is the first direct observable event that may point to their existence and nature of those realities."

Thesar slowly shook his head. "That seems like an extremely large leap of faith to make, but for the sake of argument, I'll accept it as fact. Tell me some more about these events."

"_Canis lupus lupus_ is the first family in the _Canidae_ order in which we've observed these events. I've also heard of promising data with specimens from the _Squamata_ order. For the events, they tend to occur shortly after the nanobots have assimilated with the specimen brains, and during instances where physical stimuli is, ahh, introduced to the subjects."

"Physical stimuli?"

"Yes, strong physical stimuli that could be construed as pain-inducing events." Kali looked slightly defensive. "After the initial period where the subjects attempt to make contact -"

"- Allegedly make contact", said Thesar.

"Yes, allegedly make contact, there would be almost no follow-up attempts to repeat the events. However, we found that by inducing painful stimuli, the subjects would repeat their attempts." Kali looked thoughtful. "It's almost as if they're looking for a way to escape the situation they're in, and being physically restrained, that is how they're attempting to escape."

"Inflicting pain on animal test subjects as a method to extract experimental data? I hope for our sakes that nobody outside of this building knows about this."

Kali smiled, "Nobody knows. Besides, the data that we've been able to accumulate has been invaluable for our work. Even though we haven't observed any attempt by the subjects to actually interact with the quantum foam, the discovery of access to space time turbulence and potential existence of alternate dimensions is incredible. I believe this represents an incredible leap forward for us, and it may move us closer to nanobot implementation in humans.

"Thesar, once we've concluded this experiment, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could work with me in examining the data."

The grey-haired researcher nodded slowly. "I'd be honored to."


End file.
